The acclaimed television show, Shameless, leaves a lot to be “bi-furious” about. During the seventh season, the token white gay male in the show, Ian Gallagher, gets into a relationship with a man named Caleb. All seems to be going well, until Ian gets suspicious about Caleb hanging out with his ex-girlfriend. “There’s no such thing as that, you are either gay or straight,” Ian firmly exclaims. “No one is 100% gay,” Caleb retorts. However, both of them are wrong. While Ian constantly expresses his biphobic views, Caleb decides to cheat on Ian with his ex-girlfriend, stating that it “doesn’t count” because “it’s with a girl”. Again, they are both in the wrong. Shameless is known to be provocative and, well, lacking in shame. However, through …show more content…
Ian’s brother, Lip, who is heterosexual, states that Caleb must be gay (“because liking dick makes you gay”) and advises Ian to not worry. “Phallocentrism and Bisexualinvisibility” discussed the automatic association of male bisexuality with homosexuality in this quote: “At most, you will be considered to be closeted or repressed. But gay you will remain. A bisexual male, for most people, even if they admit that we technically exist, is just another flavor of gay because the defining aspect of us is that we touch dick.” (Miki R., p. 171) Monosexism leads to bi+ erasure, which invalidates the existence of non-monosexual sexual orientations (Lecture 10/6). This erasure often assumes that a person’s “true” sexual orientation is defined by their engagement with penis. As acknowledged in the discussion section, another show named “The L Word” encompassed biphobia as well, by labeling lesbians who have never slept with a man as “gold stars” (Discussion Section 303, 10/6). This implies that those who are not “gold stars” are not “true lesbians”, for if they were, the additional label would not exist in the first place.
What I’ve noticed in the film is that the two main characters fit two standard archetypes of gay men. One who welcomes their sexuallity and one suppresses it. Ennis Del Mar is a man who before the story started was engaged to a woman named Alma. When Ennis and Jack begin their sexual relationship and Ennis tells Jack that he wasn’t queer,
Sex and Gender was the subject of the two movies Dreamworlds 3 and Further Off The Straight & Narrow. In Dreamworlds 3 Sex is portrayed as a status of life and happiness in the media. This media displays people as objects that can be manipulated for sexual pleasure. As the media is populated with sex it tiptoes around gender, specifically that of gays or lesbians. The film Further Off The Straight & Narrow emphasized the movement through media gay and lesbian topics. This text analyzes iconic television programs and how they reflect the societal stance during that time. As a member of a generation that has had the topic of these issues prominent I believe they are important but are banal. In this reflection I will be responding to two questions, what would woman driven Dreamworlds look like? And Do you agree with the statement that if you are not on television you don’t exist?
The topic of homosexuality has become a constant issue throughout our society for many years. Many people believe that being gay is not acceptable for both religious and moral reasons. Because being gay is not accepted, many homosexuals may feel shame or guilt because of the way they live their everyday lives. This in turn can affect how the person chooses to live their life and it can also affect who the person would like to become. Growing up, David Sedaris struggled to find the common ground between being gay as well as being a normal teenager. He often resorted to the conclusion that you could not be both. Sedaris allows us to see things through his young eyes with his personable short story "I Like Guys". Throughout his short story, Sedaris illustrates to the reader what it was like growing up being gay as well as how the complexities of being gay, and the topic of sexuality controlled his lifestyle daily. He emphasizes the shame he once felt for being gay and how that shame has framed him into the person he has become.
“What’s ruining television today are those big productions – It’s the fairies who are going to ruin show business.” For some, this quote from The Jack Paar Show may seem unsettling. In the midst of a Supreme Court that has recently extended even more rights to a community so harshly oppressed, it is shocking to think that just fifty years ago, thoughts like this represented the majority opinion. The evolution of homosexuality in television has seen tremendous leaps and countless obstacles; yet what has emerged in the wake of it all is a form of media that has drastically impacted discourse surrounding gay men. This analysis aims to discuss the show Glee, as well as the key aspects of homosexuality that are portrayed. It will examine the characters
It is often found that the stereotypical “butch” and “femme” pairing are more visible than other lesbian relationships. However, this does not mean that they do not exist. The ever-growing popularity of the lesbian social sphere has symbolized both difficulties and effects of identifying with such a label. The label or identity itself, though distinctly separating lesbians from “normal” heterosexuals begins to exhibit pre-existing conflict experienced by gay males: “there’s always been something wrong (Aldrich, 38).” This quote implies the conditioned and ingrained belief that homosexuality’s “taboo” existence was more than just wrong, but distasteful and something that society should look down upon for being an “abnormality.” Sometimes, this social reality for lesbians made it hard for them to “come out the closet” and be visible. This experience is exemplified as “The repressed lesbian has a harder time of it, for she is less aware of her abnormality (Aldrich, 41).” Additionally, to be able to clearly and accurately identify “the lesbian is to meet the many women she is at close range; to see her against her various backgrounds, hear her sundry voices, and familiarize yourself with the diverse facades of her several lives (Aldrich, 42).” Here, the presence of the “double life” is demonstrated to further analyze the lack of privileges that the lesbian community had, including the social aspect of their
Prior is openly gay, and does not lie about his HIV status. Even though living the life he does, must be very difficult in the world he lives in, he makes the most of what he has. He has a good sense of humor about what is happening to him, even though he is dying, he tries to help other people too. The way that he is openly gay and HIV positive helps Harper. She learns to accept the fact that Joe likes men. Prior and Harper are going through almost the same situation here, they both love unfaithful men. It just so happens that both of the men they love, get together. Belize is also an openly homosexual man; he is a nurse who treats AIDS patients. The both of them do not try to pretend to be anything but who they really are. These characters can be an inspiration to people to show their true identity, even if you will be judged for it. Living in a homophobic society, being homosexual can a never ending task. Prior and Belize do not want to change themselves just to keep a good reputation and to fit into the standards of the society they live in. It may be a frightening thought to show your genuine identity, when you aren’t accepted in the society you live in but that doesn’t mean you should hide it. Everyone should love the way they are, regardless of what others think or how you will be looked at by
In her essay "Thinking Sex", Gayle Rubin strictly outlines the rules of sexual conduct which currently exist in Western society. These rules have created a sexual hierarchy which places heterosexual, monogamous, married, reproductive sex at the top. Anything deterring from this position, is placed below in varying degrees. The allegations of sexual assault made against McGreevey not only announce publicly his sexual preference, but according to Rubin, place him at the very bottom of the sexual hierarchy. First and foremost, McGreevey is a married man. Any act of sexual advance towards anyone besides his wife can be seen as adulterous. Second, these sexual advances were made toward a male colleague while McGreevey remained in a heterosexual marriage. Thus, in the eyes of a bystander, he is eliciting homosexual behavior without claiming full affiliation with the gay community.
When television first appeared back in the 1940's, times were very different. What we would consider completely normal today would have seemed quite taboo just a few decades ago. For example, in 1953, Lucille Ball was not allowed to say the word "pregnant" while she was expecting baby Ricky and it wasn't until the 1960's show Bewitched, that we saw a married couple actually sharing the same bed. Considering how conservative the television networks were back then, it is not hard to deduce that something as controversial as homosexuality would be far from discussed or portrayed at any level. It was only in 1973 that television premiered its first homosexual character. Over the next three decades the emergence of gay and lesbian characters in television has increased and decreased as the times have changed. Due to the resurgence of conservatism that came back in the early 1980's, homosexual topics were again reduced to a minimum. Since that time though, as many people can see, there has been a rise of gay and lesbian characters on television. One might think after a first glance at the previous sentence that there has been progress among gay and lesbian communities to have a fair representation in the media. However, if one looks hard at the circumstances surrounding their portrayal, many people may start to believe that if there has been any progress then it has been quite minimal.
This presents a double standard because it conveys that gays can have sex but lesbians cannot. Since intercourse between lesbians does not require a “real penis”, it would be considered masturbation rather than sexuality. Another definition with the same double standard is shown in the fourth definition, which states “a sexual act not involving the insertion of a real penis into an orifice of a human being.” Bestiality is not considered masturbatory; therefore this statement would be incorrect. In the fifth definition, it mentions “a sexual act not involving the insertion of a real penis into an orifice into the vagina.”
The 1990s saw surge of gay characters in both television and movies. From Ellen Degeneres and her character Ellen Morgan coming out under much scrutiny on the TV show ‘Ellen,’ to Julia Roberts and Rupert Everett comedically playing off each other in the motion picture ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding.’ Sure, gays and lesbians have been around forever, especially in Hollywood. But never has there been a time to be more out. With the popularity of shows like Will and Grace, which feature leading gay characters, as well as Dawson’s Creek and it’s supporting character of teenager Jack McPhee, we are slowly seeing gay and lesbian characters creeping into the mainstream media.
When it comes to literature and films, there are many different kinds of strategies and tactics to representing an array of different themes, topics, ideas, and many more. However, representing a sexuality that strays from the heteronormative standard is something that we do not see often, at least, not in mainstream media. Different sexualities are not always prevalent, especially bisexuality, and even when they are shown there are constant misrepresentations or erased in most media portrayals due to toxic biphobic societal conceptions of their sexuality. One of the most wounding trends in the portrayal of bisexuality is bisexual erasure, which is not so much a portrayal but the passive or active ignorance or denial of the existence of bisexuality or other non-monosexual sexual orientations. Bisexual erasure denies people struggling with their sexuality the tools to articulate their sexuality with the opportunity to find people like them represented into media outlets, especially in films and literature.
“All men are created equal, No matter how hard you try, you can never erase those words,” Harvey Milk. A homosexual, as defined by the dictionary, is someone of, relating to, or characterized by a tendency to direct sexual desire toward another of the same sex. Homosexuality is ethical, and I will provide rational arguments for, and irrational arguments against the topic. A few objections are as follows: It is forbidden in the Bible and frowned upon by God; It is unnatural; Men and women are needed to reproduce; There are no known examples in nature; and the most common argument that concerns homosexuality is whether it is a choice or human biology.
Homosexuality in Today's Society. In today's society, there exists a mixture of issues which tend to raise arguments with people all over. There are a handful of topics that always seem to escalate these differences between people to the point where one who earnestly participates in discussion, debate and argument can direct their anger towards their feelings on the person themselves. Some examples of such delicate subjects are the death penalty, abortion, and euthanasia.
By positing the lesbian as ‘excess’ in the patriarchal system we may fail to note the identities that function as ‘excess’ within our own newly created lesbian community.
When one hears the words “LGBT” and “Homosexuality” it often conjures up a mental picture of people fighting for their rights, which were unjustly taken away or even the social emergence of gay culture in the world in the1980s and the discovery of AIDS. However, many people do not know that the history of LGBT people stretches as far back in humanity’s history, and continues in this day and age. Nevertheless, the LGBT community today faces much discrimination and adversity. Many think the problem lies within society itself, and often enough that may be the case. Society holds preconceptions and prejudice of the LGBT community, though not always due to actual hatred of the LGBT community, but rather through lack of knowledge and poor media portrayal.